Monthly Archives: August 2015

Call for Participation: The Supernatural

Posted on by
Reply

Who wants to come join the fun in Budapest next March? I will be organizing this conference and hope to see some of you there!

The Moon Man by Chris Allington

The Moon Man by Chris Allington

The Supernatural
Call for Participation 2016

Friday 11th March – Sunday 13th March 2016
Budapest, Hungary

From vengeful gods and goddesses and witches to poltergeists and hauntings, to demonic possession and the accompany exorcism rituals, the human imagination has been captivated for millennia by the power of forces that operate outside the laws of nature and the relationship between humans and the spirit world. Over time, the supernatural has served as a basis for titillating audiences and generating fear. The supernatural has served as a useful means of explaining complicated natural processes in terms humans understand. As history’s famous witch-hunts have demonstrated, the supernatural is also a potent weapon for exerting control over individuals whose behavior or appearance fail to confirm to the ‘norms’ of the community. Conversely, the supernatural can also provide a means of expressing minority beliefs in a way that challenges the power of mainstream organized religions. The supernatural offers a source of personal comfort in the face of grief by providing assurance that a departed loved one is watching over us. However, as the long line of supernatural hoaxes reveal, however, this longing to believe in the afterlife can enable schemes designed to manipulate and swindle vulnerable people.

But just what purpose does the supernatural serve in 21st century societies? Is it a throwback to the irrational, superstitious and archaic beliefs of a so-called primitive era, or is it a reminder that there is more to existence than the ‘truths’ revealed by the sciences? The Supernatural interdisciplinary research and publishing event aims to interrogate and investigate the supernatural from a variety of perspectives in order to understand the uses and meanings of the supernatural across time and cultures. Subjects for presentation include, but are not limited to, the following:

The Supernatural in Theory and Practice
Shifting perspectives of what is supernatural over time and across cultures
Non-Western perspectives on the supernatural
What attitudes toward the supernatural suggest about human perceptions of the boundaries between worlds
Ancestor worship and the cultures in which this tradition is practiced
Witchcraft, voodoo and the cultures where these traditions are practiced
Satanism and cultural perceptions of this belief system
Reasons behind the enduring fascination with supernatural evil, including philosophical, theological and anthropological perspectives on this question
Relationship between the supernatural and magic
Religious traditions and the supernatural (supernatural aspects of faith and belief, attitudes of faith traditions toward the supernatural, how clergy respond to individuals who report supernatural experiences, etc.)

The Supernatural and Real Life
Socially accepted forms of supernatural belief and the factors that make some beliefs more acceptable than others
Harms and benefits of believing in the supernatural
Relationship between the supernatural and cruelty
Apocalyptic supernatural evil events or characters and the significance of millenarianism
Characteristics of supernatural entities and the significance of their difference from/similarity to human traits
Relationship between the supernatural and social power/ideologies (e.g. witchcraft as pretext for dealing with non-conforming women, using the supernatural to engage with physical enemies, etc.)
Legal/legislative approaches to restricting or enabling supernatural belief (limits of religious freedom principles, state-sanctioned punishment of witches, etc.)
Medical/clinical perspectives on belief in the supernatural: the neuroscience behind (dis)belief, clinical responses to individuals who report supernatural experiences
Science and the supernatural: using science to (dis)prove supernatural occurrences
Technologies that facilitate/measure/prove engagement with the paranormal/occult
Future of the supernatural in a world increasingly driven by science and reason

Supernatural Encounters
Analyses of reports of supernatural encounters: common conventions of reports, style and mode of recounting experience, impact of titillation versus simple reporting of events in the reports of these encounters
How the function and/or interpretation of a report of supernatural evil changes over time or across cultures
Impact of oral traditions, artistic renderings and generic conventions on the telling and reception of accounts involving supernatural encounters
How the reception of reports of the supernatural is influenced by the experience of listening versus reading or viewing
Emotional and intellectual pleasures associated with the supernatural: pleasures of fear and titillation, etc.
Comedic interpretations of supernatural evil: haunted houses in amusement parks, horror movie spoofs, etc.
Supernatural in film, television (including reality series like Most Haunted and Ghost Hunters), theatre, music, art and literature—and how they differ from more ‘traditional’ accounts
Supernatural spaces: spaces associated with evil and the economic benefits/tourism implications of such connections
Hoaxes, frauds and swindles

Supernatural and Live Performance
Curated film screenings
Performances (dramatic staging, dance, music)
Readings
Art installations

Interested? Click here for more information!

Horses… Giddyup!

Posted on by
Reply
Mr. Ed, the talking horse who only ever conversed with Wilbur, was one of my favorite tv shows growing up. Mr. Ed appeared on Sunday evenings, just before (or after?) "My Favorite Martian."

Mr. Ed, the talking horse who only ever conversed with Wilbur, was one of my favorite tv shows growing up. Mr. Ed appeared on Sunday evenings, just before (or after?) “My Favorite Martian.”

When most people think of HORSES in mythology or folklore, they think of winged horses like Pegasus or wooden horses like that offered to the Trojans by the Greeks or talking horses like Mr. Ed (seen above). Few people think of horses in connection with mermaids!

But horses and cows were often seen in the company of mermaids, according to the old stories. Mermaids were set to watch the herds of horses and cows belonging to the sea gods just as shepherds were set to watch flocks of sheep and goats on the hillsides. Mermaids would lead the horses and cows up onto shore from the depths of the sea and then gain legs for themselves by removing a cloak. After allowing the cattle or horses to graze along the shore, the mermaids would wrap themselves in their cloaks again and lose their legs, thus regaining their fish tails and would lead the animals back into the sea.

Many times a mermaid would reward an act of kindness by giving a human a magical horse or cow that was especially strong, beautiful, and fertile. These cows from the depths of the Otherworld would mingle with the poor or sickly cows of a farmstead and restore the earthly herds to health and fertility. These magically restored herds often brought great wealth to the human farmers. But if the humans ever harmed the Otherworld animal, it would vanish and take all its progeny with it and the humans would be reduced to poverty once more as a result.

It was sailors or other men who saw the mermaids and the horses/cattle come ashore who might steal the mermaid’s cloak and thus render her unable to return to the sea. She would often then marry the man who had stolen the cloak and thus kidnapped her and even live with him happily for many years. But she would never age and would finally find the cloak that the man had hidden somewhere in the house. She would wrap herself in the cloak and hurry back to the sea and return to her true home beneath the waves.

Horses were also especially associated with the goddesses who brought both fertility and who lead the dead into the Otherworld in Celtic mythology. Because a goddess could bring life and health and prosperity, she could also take them away and leave illness and death in her wake. Horses, especially purebred white horses, were considered the steeds of the goddess and were both desired and feared by horse traders.

Florus and Laurus, twin brothers who were second century martyrs, are considered the patrons of horses among the Rus because a local horse plague was healed by their relics. Russian peasants would tether their horses around the church on their feast day (August 18) and avoid putting the horses to work in order to avoid a recurrence of the plague.

An icon from Novgorod (15th century) showing SS. Florus and Laurus with the horses.

An icon from Novgorod (15th century) showing SS. Florus and Laurus with the horses.

Dormition

Posted on by
Reply
Fra Angelico painted this depiction of the Dormition of the Virgin in 1431-2.

Fra Angelico painted this depiction of the Dormition of the Virgin in 1431-2.

The Dormition of the Mother of God, commonly called the “Assumption” by Western Christians, celebrates the falling-asleep of the Mother of God on August 15 and her translation into glory at the right hand of her Son. This deathbed scene is often depicted in Orthodox icons and medieval Western paintings (such as Fra Angelico’s seen above) with Mary dying as the apostles surround her deathbed and Jesus gathers her soul into His arms like a new-born child (similar to the way He is depicted in swaddling bands at Christmas). It has been said in at least a few sermons that, “If Christmas is God’s birthday into humanity, then Dormition is Humanity’s birthday into divinity.”

As part of the Dormition celebration, flowers and fragrant herbs are brought into the church to be blessed. This aspect of Dormition celebrates the harvest going on in the fields outside the churches and the “harvest” of each human life on their deathbed. This harvest and gathering into glory of each human life to await the End Times or Last Judgment gives the practical duties of farmyard duties a very apocalyptic or eschatological flavor. (Apocalypse and eschatology relate to “End Times” and “Last Things.”) This human harvest is celebrated again at the end of the farmyard harvest season with Halloween and the Day of the Dead in November.

The flowers and herbs blessed on August 15 are thought to disperse devils by their fragrant scent and to keep devils from tripping the soul of a dying person if they are placed around the deathbed.